... the host asked a series of questions intended to establish his guest's Hispanic bona fides. What kind of Cuban food did Cruz like to eat growing up? And what sort of Cuban music does Cruz listen to even now?

I've known Ted for more than a decade and I could tell he was uncomfortable. But he played along, listing various kinds of Cuban food and saying that his musical taste veers more toward country.

I kept waiting for Halperin to ask Cruz to play the conga drums like Desi Arnaz while dancing salsa and sipping cafe con leche -- all to prove the Republican is really Cuban.

Just when I thought I'd seen the worst, it got even more offensive. Earlier that day, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, had entered the presidential race. So, Halperin said: "I want to give you the opportunity to directly welcome your colleague Sen. Sanders to the race, and I'd like you to do it, if you would, en español."

What nerve, treating a U.S. senator like a trained seal! Who does this guy think he is, trying to evaluate how well a Hispanic speaks Spanish? And what does that have to do with being authentic anyway?

Here are the key moments from that interview:

So right-wingers don't like Halperin now? Welcome to the club -- what took you so long to get here? Oh, right -- you actually liked it when Halperin wrote that, for him and his fellow insider political journalists, "Matt Drudge rules our world." You were pleased when he all but begged Hugh Hewitt to take him seriously as a journalist because he agreed with right-wing charges of liberal media bias. You defended Halperin when he was temporarily suspended from his MSNBC's Morning Joe for calling President Obama a "dick" on the air.

We've known for a long time that Halperin's obnoxiousness and immaturity are on regular display. Remember, Halperin is the guy who brought Senator Bernie Sanders on his show and pressured him to read dialogue from old Seinfeld episodes, because it's allegedly rumored that Sanders was the voice of George Steinbrenner on Seinfeld. And Halperin is the guy who brought Senator Orrin Hatch on his show and did this: